Feels Like Home  New
by TheMatador
Summary: Hogwarts has always felt like home to Harry...maybe thats because it was designed to be. After leaving Dumbledore's office Harry get's some help from a rather unusual source. Restarted due to the massive holes developing in the original.
1. Chapter 01  And It Begins

**Disclaimer** – None of this belongs to me really. I am just playing for my own amusement and hopefully that of others. Credit for the characters goes to JK Rowling. Credit for the inspiration goes to countless others too – Jbern, zArkham, fake a smile, whydoyouneedtoknow, kb0, kassien, Landstradd, s'tarkan, Vulkan…honestly the list is huge if anything I write entertains people half as much as they have me I'll be happy.

**About Story** – As you may spot this is the second version of this story. Last time I started with a decent idea and rushed it leaving massive holes in my wake. I'm trying to write this one slower and actually think about what I'm putting down so updates maybe slow but hopefully they won't go ape for about 3 days then stop for almost a year, on the bright side though I have got married in that time, great for me, neither here nor there for you but thought you might like to know.

As for this story, it has a pairing and it isn't Harry/Rowena. Apologies to those enjoying the last version but frankly there is too much pressure to write as well as LordAnarchy666 and his Harry Potter and the Root of All Evil with that pairing and I'm just not that confident in my writing abilities to compete.

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><p>The eyes were open but he wasn't seeing.<p>

The feet were walking but he had no idea of their destination.

His entire being was given over to the contemplation of the words which had apparently determined the course of his life.

_The one with the power to vanquish the- Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies._

It was a death sentence. He was going to die and in doing so doom the world to darkness. Worse yet, due to the delightful manipulations of the so-called Leader of the Light, he was going to die without ever truly living. Even in his state of unawareness he snorted at the thought. At least that part of the prophecy was true.

What kind of life had he actually had?

Treated like a Malfoy house elf from as early as he could remember, alternately a saviour or a pariah from the age of eleven, famous with no idea how to deal with such status, scorned with impunity by students and teachers alike. His life wasn't a life. The prophecy was right. It was surviving and even that only barely.

And now? Now he was the only hope for the world. But how could he possibly hope to win. All he had succeeded in doing tonight was getting his friends injured and his godfather killed.

A fresh wave of panic and nausea hit him. Sirius was dead. Dead because of him. The only one who ever looked out for him and him alone. Sure there was Remus but he had left him alone till third year and had barely spoken to Harry since. The Weasley's had enough to deal with with their own children without him adding to their worries. His friends had their own problems, they were just kids. They shouldn't have to deal with this. Sure he was too but his life had been mapped out before he was born. His life was destined to be like this, what right did he have to bring anyone else into it.

He collapsed against the wall falling to the floor. Tears that had been aching for release since his godfathers death finally streamed forth.

If he had spared a thought for where he was he might have been surprised to see the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy opposite him but instead all of Harry's attention was on the fact that he was truly destined to be alone.

To lead a wretched life.

To die.

Tears flowed more freely as he swayed back and forth. Why? Why him? Why could he not have anything good in his life? Even just some help along the way? Someone to actually look out for him. To put him first. To give him a fighting chance.

His next backward sway didn't hit a wall. Instead he continued backwards and overbalanced. The tears stopped abruptly in the momentary shock of his current location, sprawled out on his back, his upper body in an unknown room.

Confused he got to his feet, wiping his face on his sleeve as he did and looked about and see his location. He was surprised to find himself entering a very cosy room, the pale sandstone walls flickering, reflecting the deep orange of fire which glowed in the well-stocked grate. A deep, thick patterned rug was in front of the fire and opposite a comfortable looking sofa. Most disturbing though was the armchair opposite him, perpendicular to the fire, as sat on it was a regal looking woman. She sat, almost like royalty on a throne, her black hair falling long and thick down her back as surveyed him with hard, intelligent eyes.

"Well Mr Potter, that was not the introduction I was expecting." The woman quipped, the playful comment somewhat at odds with her appearance and shocking Harry out of his confusion.

"Who are you?" he asked warily, trying to subtly draw his wand. No one had ever been waiting for him in the Room of Requirement before.

A wry smile graced the strangers face. "So untrusting Harry?" she asked with a smirk. "Come in, close the door and sit down and I'll tell you. You have your wand out and as you can see" she held up her hands, "I am unarmed."

Cautiously, Harry closed the door before moving forward and seating himself at the edge of the sofa, as far away from the woman as possible. Her grin grew wider.

"There. Now were both comfortable." She began, looking more amused by the second. "You were outside of the Room of Requirement Harry, and it opened. Logically that means you must have been thinking of something. So, what were you thinking of?"

He was silent only for a moment, the rollercoaster of emotion and need to unburden himself overcoming his natural suspicion. "I'm not sure. I guess that I need help. I've got this job to do you see. Only I can do it but I don't know how and it would be …bad if I couldn't do it. I can't drag anyone else into it but I guess, just once, I wanted someone to look after me you know? To help me. To think of me rather than the job I have to do." He sighed unsure of where that little rant had come from.

The woman looked at him with a warm but calculating smile. "Well there is your answer. You were outside of the Room of Requirement asking for help in this 'task', the room opened and you found me here therefore logically – I must be here to help you."

Harry was unsure how far he could trust the Room of Requirement, though it had never let him down, but he couldn't fault the woman's reasoning. Without noticing he settled slightly more comfortably.

"I am a physical manifestation of Hogwarts. In this case, in the guise of Rowena Ravenclaw and I am here to give you the help you need."

Harry face turned sceptical "Really? Not to be rude but your either long dead or a building I'm not entirely sure how much help I can get from you."

"I am a building, Mr Potter, with access to a phenomenal amount of magical energy and the physical manifestation of one of the most intelligent witches to have ever lived. In actuality, I know of numerous ways to help you." Seeing his scepticism remained she continued. "I know everything that takes place within these walls Harry, I am well aware of your problem.

"I could perhaps, provide books filled with obscure magics" A vast array of full bookshelves appeared behind her stretching off into the distance. "one of which might lead to his downfall. Maybe I could use the insight I gained into Tom Riddle's mind as a student to predict possible methods for his defeat. Or possibly, possibly I could give you the time you need to train away from the hassle and pressure associated with being the Boy-Who-Lived."

Harry was alarmed by this "How?" a hint of suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Off the top of my head I could perhaps slow down time in this room to give you time to train, though your sustenance might be a problem and the continued drain on my magic might reflect on the power in the wards. I could give you a time turner, allowing you to repeat hours and days and weeks and housing you here, though of course the inherent issues with time turners make that option less appealing."

"Like the time paradoxes and ripping holes in causality and things." Harry nodded, on familiar ground from his third year.

To Harry's utter amazement Rowena snorted. "No. None of that nonsense. I'm talking about health issues. You should know very well after your escapade in third year that the things don't cause paradoxes or causality problems or any other such rubbish. Use your own brain for once. Don't parrot what others tell you."

"But Hermione said-"

"I know well what Miss Granger said and the fact that it was her who said it makes it no less wrong. Miss Granger has much knowledge and little wisdom, you would do well to learn the difference."

Harry gaped at the derogatory assessment of his best friend by the Founder. In a night of large surprises this was by no means the smallest.

Seeing the state of the young man before her Hogwarts decided to explain herself. "Harry, while Miss Granger is undoubtedly intelligent, she is by no means as sensible, as wise or as logical as she believes, or perhaps more importantly as she encourages others to believe."

Dragging himself out of his stupor Harry attempted to defend his friend. "But she's the smartest witch of the age everyone says so!"

Looking at him carefully Hogwarts answered as if she knew exactly how much the answer would shake Harry's belief system. "Miss Granger…Hermione, has an extremely high work ethic married to an excellent memory along with very fast recall. However she also has a huge inferiority complex and far too great a respect for authority, be it an adult or in written form."

Hogwarts sighed and her voice became much more stern. "Since arriving at Hogwarts, her social skills, which frankly were absolutely appalling, have vastly improved. However, her inferiority complex has led to a constant need to feel validated and has, on numerous occasions, led her to putting yourself and Mr Weasley down in order to increase her perceived necessity with her peers. While this tendency has decreased from its peak following the third year broom incident, it is still present and has most certainly hindered your own magical development."

Harry sat there flabbergasted, thoroughly shaken by the revelation while subconsciously thankful it was great enough to take his mind away from more pressing matters.

Everything that was said was true of course but that didn't make the discussion any easier for Harry to process. He could see exactly what Hogwarts was talking about, on some level he supposed he'd always known it, it was just difficult to think of Hermione as having flaws. He knew he did, he was moody, lazy to a certain extent, and had his own significant inferiority complex. Ron certainly did, he was lazier, had jealousy issues and had a massive inferiority complex of his own. He snorted. Maybe that was why they were drawn together, they all felt inferior.

Shaking his head free of his thoughts he turned back to his companion who was look at him with concern. He smiled weakly. "So I guess she was never going to be Ravenclaw then."

He was answered with a wry smile "If she knew how to deal with people she could have been the perfect Hufflepuff being phenomenally loyal and incredibly hardworking, if she let herself that is, she is also phenomenally headstrong and her bullheadedness and bravery make her more than adequate for Gryffindor." There was a moment of silence.

"Harry I don't want you to think bad of her. My aim is to encourage you to realise you are more than capable of thinking for yourself and those around you, despite their seeming wisdom are not infallible. Besides, regardless of your personal history you are now perfectly capable of testing your intellectual limits without fear of repercussions."

The shame of Harry's past caused him flush and to drop his head, he knew he had been forced to repress his intelligence throughout his early years and to a large extent it had been engrained in him. Not that he was or could be a genius by any extent of the imagination but years of not being allowed to work to his full capacity had left him almost physically incapable of doing his best.

He was startled when moments later his head was lifted by Rowena who was kneeling before him. "We all have our demons Harry. Rowena did. Godric did…Salazar certainly did. What we must do is do our best to overcome them. You have done an admirable job making friends, trying to learn social skills, going against your upbringing. You just need to go further. The Dursleys have no hold on you anymore and I can provide you with the time and…support…necessary for you to shake the last of their influence."

"How? That won't happen with a time turner?"

"No Harry. It won't. But what I can do is send you back in time to a suitable teacher. Or set of teachers."

The silence following this statement stretched on as a shocked Harry contemplated the possibilities.

"Who would be teaching me?" Despite his night and its inherent stress, Harry was struggling to stop the excitement from creeping into his otherwise wary voice.

Rowena smiled knowingly at his tone "That depends almost entirely on you. To make that decision I need to tell you some things about your family and you need to make a very important decision. It will take some time. In the meantime I have to ask Harry, are you certain this is the route you wish to take? By necessity this will take years of your life. You will be a very different person when you return. Older, more mature, with a significantly different personality. Your friends will still be the same. You will no longer relate to them. Effectively, making this decision in the affirmative will cause the breakup of your current friendships."

He lost himself in thought as the minutes passed, this was a wonderful opportunity, but it would result in the loss of his best friends. Rowena was right, nothing would be the same afterwards, and he could well be old enough to be their parents next time he met them. But it was a wonderful opportunity, maybe the best hope for winning. If it meant him sacrificing their friendship so that they didn't have to sacrifice themselves then he really couldn't be that selfish. After all the prophecy meant he had to face Voldemort, if he could protect them by separating himself from them and doing it alone he would. His mind made up he nodded at Rowena resolutely. "I want to go back."

"In that case we need to discuss potential destinations, but first we can use the power of Hogwarts for something else. It is within the power of this school to send you back with every single belonging of yours within the castle."

"So I get my Firebolt back?" interrupted Harry excitedly

"Yes you do, though that really isn't the point I'm trying to make. Harry how much do you know about what happened in Godric's Hollow, after that Halloween of course."

"Umm…nothing really."

"I thought as much, Harry, the house has been turned into a monument by the Ministry. Actually they have effectively unlawfully seized your property and you should probably do something about it. But aside from that, the attack and the subsequent backlash caused the wards to fail and left the house wide open to looters. In order to prevent the loss of your belongings, as no one could access your vaults and wards couldn't be placed on the property without the owners approval, approval you were obviously unable to give at the time, Professor Dumbledore brought all the valuables here. Most notably all your family books."

Harry looked startled at this information. He couldn't blame Dumbledore of course, not for this, though why he couldn't tell him of his property more recently he didn't know. "Just how many books are there?"

"Enough. I think there about six thousand." Rowena smiled "They focus largely on Runes, Transfiguration and a little bit of Arithmancy with a few of Charms books thrown in, including some fairly rare ones too courtesy of your mother, along with a few Potions books."

"What about Defence? If I'm going to train to defend myself I need to know that most of all." Harry exclaimed.

"That can be sorted out rather easily. With the unfortunate death of your godfather you now own Grimmauld Place and the Black Library, I can send House Elves to pack it up momentarily if you agree."

Harry nodded absentmindedly, thoughts of Sirius he had managed to suppress since the conversation started beating down on his consciousness.

Sighing Rowena out her hand to Harrys forehead and within seconds his eyes closed and he was in a deep sleep and she laid him down on the sofa.

When Harry awoke he was surprised by his location until events of the previous day returned with a vengeance.

"Harry." Momentary shock at the voice was replaced with an apologetic look at the thought he had passed out mid conversation.

"It's okay Harry. I put you to sleep. You needed it. I also took the edge off your grief with a calming draft, you need to deal with your issues as soon as possible but we do not yet have the time for that unfortunately. That said, I was able to slow down time outside this room so mere seconds have passed real-time for the seven hours of sleep you have had."

"Now we have a matter of some importance to discuss, namely when and where you will go. There are a number of factors to consider; do you want to develop the most personally, magically or intellectually. To heal your inner demons most efficiently, gain as much knowledge as possible, as much skill as possible or as much power as possible? Then there is what you will learn. What to specialize in, what are currently best at, take a chance on your family history and specialize in what have historically been Potter specialties?"

Harry's head was swimming with barely considered possibilities. "Err…what do you mean by growing personally, magically or intellectually?"

"I mean should you go to the place you are likely to get the most support so that you can become a well-rounded person and get over any issues you may have, the drawback with this of course is that your growth in terms of magical power, skill or knowledge may be stunted. Or should you go to wherever you will learn the most magic? The problem obviously being that knowing and using magic are two different things and you may not be able to deal with your issues as one might wish. Similarly you could try and gain the most skill in utilising magic or become the most powerful you can be, though of course similar drawbacks are inherent in both those paths. All of these factors must be considered.

"You could, for example, go back to before the Black Death, before much knowledge passed by word of mouth was lost. You could go back and learn from Nicolas Flamel. You could even, though I would not recommend it, go back and learn from some of your ancestors." Harry stilled "Of course wherever you go you will become more powerful, more skilled, more knowledgeable and at least have a chance to deal with your issues. The only real proviso you have is that you must have a way of getting back to the present day, the simplest being to use this room again, so going back no further than the Founders era is not recommended."

The silenced stretched on for minutes only to be interrupted by a veritable army of house elves loaded with what appeared to be thousands of books.

Taking in the sight of all the books distractedly Harry sighed "I think I need a bit of a combination. Where I can grow in knowledge and skill while trying to deal with my issues." He paused. "I know I repress a lot of my emotions but I think the way I've been brought up means I need to deal with these things myself, possibly with a little help every now and again. I'm quite independent or I think I need to be and while a little help dealing with problems would be nice, I think just somewhere I can deal with them in my own time and at my own pace without fear of any sort of scorn or slander."

Rowena just nodded, refusing to comment.

"You said something about Potter specialties? I mean I know I'm best at Defence and I should probably concentrate on that but-"

At that Rowena felt compelled to interrupt "Harry" she said quietly "could you please do something for me?" she continued at his confused nod "I want you to think, really think. What is the most impressive magic you have EVER seen. Think hard."

He took a few moments to answer. "It's close between McGonagall's Animagus transformation, Fred and George's portable swamp and the Great Hall ceiling. Then maybe the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. Why?"

"You'll see. Alright, with the obvious exception of the duel, do any parts of the magic mentioned come under Defence?"

"Err…No actually, not really, though an Animagus transformation could be useful I guess."

"And when you first heard about magic was your first thought about how good it could be to fight with magic?"

"No, though I did think of hexing Dudley."

Rowena gave a wry smile in response. "Harry, unfortunately you have never been able to fully give yourself over to being the best at magic you can possibly be. A combination of the teachers you've had and the situations you've encountered have led to a significant leaning towards Defence. While that's understandable it may well behove you to use this time to explore all the other aspects of yourself and your magic."

Though nodding along Rowena could tell Harry wasn't really taking in what she was saying so she tried a different tack. "Harry, the duel you saw between the Headmaster and Tom was exceptional yes?"

Harry nodded with slightly more conviction. "Well how many hexes and curses did the Headmaster use?"

The question stumped him a bit; the bit he really remembered was the animation and elemental manipulation. "I'm not sure"

Rowena smiled, "There was a significant proportion of Transfiguration and Charms wasn't there." She asked rhetorically. "Professor Flitwick is a duelling champion and a Charms master, the Headmaster is clearly a powerful and gifted duellist and a master of Transfiguration. They are excellent duellists because of their mastery of various areas of magic not because they concentrate on hexes. If you are better at Charms it's just as easy to cast a water charm followed by a freezing charm as it is an _Incarcerous_, the effect is the same and it affects a wider area allowing you to be less accurate. What you should be aiming for first and foremost is proficiency with all aspects of magic, from there you start to think about how to defend yourself. Actually if you look up the original Hogwarts study guides the purpose of Defence training is actually to teach discipline in using magic and not hexes or curses.

"It may well end up of course that you have an affinity for hexes and curses or shields or some other aspect of fighting using magic, however a thorough and balanced approach to your studies, perhaps with a leaning towards things that interest you rather than things you are forced to learn would stand you in good stead. Then, if it does turn out that Defence truly is your forte, you will still have a thorough grounding in practical magic to fall back on."

Taking a moment to let her comments sink in, Rowena paused. "Harry, you asked about the Potter specialities, or affinities to give them their more correct term. Traditionally Potters are not fighters, they are adept at Earth based magic, you come from a long line of craftsmen and women Harry, sculptors and artisans, sometimes with magic, sometimes without so the Potter library largely focuses on Runes and Transfiguration. Due to the uses of Runes in Warding and Enchanting a few interesting and obscure Charms, Defence and Arithmancy tomes are also in the library.

"But of course we must take into account your mother, and she was gifted across the board she was not noticeably more adept at Defence than anything else, in fact her own affinities were for Charms and Potions. While historically the Evans affinities have obviously not been around as long, only the single generation, they make up half of your 'magical identity' for lack of a better term and neither half is especially noted as Defence prodigies, not that they were not gifted, they defied Mr Riddle after all." Hogwarts was silent for a moment as she let the young man have a moment to understand her words.

"Really we are forced to ask the question again is Defence actually your best subject or has your time in the magical world simply led you to focus your talents in that direction?"

Harry sat in stunned silence. Why had no one ever spoken to him of this before? Transfiguration was in his blood. He knew his Dad was good but apparently all Potters were. Runes and Arithmancy? Where had that come from? More importantly why didn't he know?

Then there was the bit about what he had actually wanted when he first joined the magical world. It wasn't fighting. It was things like the ceiling of the Great Hall or becoming an animagus, or even just making things move without touching them. He was excited by practical magic and somewhere along the way he had been forced to focus on life or death situations.

"I think" he started cautiously "I'd like to focus on getting as much skill with magic as possible. I know I'll never be as powerful as Voldemort but if I have time to train I could be more skilful.

"If possible I'd like to be in an environment where I can deal with my problems safely and in my own time, and where I can be taught practical magic focussing on the Potter affinities like Runes and possibly Enchanting. If it turns out I'm best at Defence then I still have all the Black books to learn from and really almost all wanded magic is Charms so getting as much practical experience with that as possible is bound to help anyway. I reckon I might be okay at Potions but frankly, Snape has put me right off it so I don't mind not concentrating on that so much. If I can get some good tutoring in Transfiguration that would be excellent but of the two Charms covers more so if it's a choice I'd prefer to cover that."

Not giving any indication of her thoughts on his decision Rowena responded "So to be clear, you wish to go back to gain as much magical _skill_ as possible, in a supportive environment but one in which you are encouraged to be independent. Your primary focus you wish to be on the practical application of magic. Given your history with Potions and Potions teachers this means a leaning towards Charms as they have the most practical uses, and Runes due to the Potters historical affinity for them."

Harry just nodded at the assessment.

"In that case I believe it would be best to send you back to the year 932AD and the area around Glen Coe in the Scottish Highlands to study with the Enchantress Leola Ravenclaw and her Spell Crafter and Magic Theorist daughter Rowena."

A gobsmacked Harry looked at Rowena with awe as she sat there with a wry, knowing smile. "So I'll learn from you and your Mum?"

"Not me no, the real Rowena and more importantly her mother Leola."

"Why you two? Why not Godric? Or Helga? Or the Flamels?"

"Godric is, was sorry, a Transfiguration master with a gift for battle magic and physical pursuits. However, he has little to no experience with Runes or Charms or many other magics in point of fact. Being of noble birth he and Salazar were taught little of the more practical aspects of magic beyond the specific family secrets. Salazar, as you might have guessed given his parselmouth gift, was a master of dealing with various magical creatures, the ability to talk to snakes carrying over to an affinity for a range of animals. He was also a master of a variety of battle magic far beyond anything even Godric knew. In conjunction with the fact that both were highborn making it difficult for you to manufacture at a suitable cover story for your arrival and presence in their life, your time would be used more wisely away from them. As for Helga there are a number of reasons as to why Helga couldn't teach you. Among other things though she had a natural ability with some Charms and was a natural warder, she had little knowledge of Runes, her predominant skill was with Potions and it was almost entirely self-taught. Rowena's mother on the other hand was a Rune master and Charms enthusiast while Rowena's _father_" Harry was shocked at the way she almost spat the word "gifted her with a thirst for the theoretical application of magic. Between the pair of them your knowledge, understanding and skill with using magic should increase exponentially."

"And what about dealing with my problems. And why is it pretty obvious I was going to go back to you and the time of the Founders?"

"To answer the second question first, you were always going to go back to a point in time where, at some point, you could use the Room of Requirement to return and given that the Founders were so intimately involved in my creation I naturally know more of what they could teach you." Harry nodded that was understandable. "Had you wanted to learn more about Potions or Transfiguration or any other subject I may well have sent you to be among the earliest students or as you say, the Flamel's. As it is Leola will be by far the best to teach you Runes and Charms and introduce you to the art of Enchantments.

"As for your personal growth" she paused looking slightly pained. "The time you will be sent back to is rather difficult one for the family you will join so you should be able to deal with your problems together. Leola and Rowena were of noble birth but had just been kicked out of the family home. There was an attempted rape of Rowena by one of her uncles. Leola intervened and her husband kicked her out rather than support her against one of his allies. To muddy the waters even further, Leola's father, Rowena's grandfather refused to stand up for her either. Rowena's father did all he could to show his disgust and kicked them out of the family home and disowned Rowena, forcing her and her mother to take a new name.

"The family have many problems of their own to deal with leaving you time and space to deal with yours. However if you do get through to them, which will take time due in no small part to their former station, they will understand some of your pain.

"At this point in time, the pair are borderline destitute, being put up by the kindness of two of Rowena's uncles on her father's side who themselves were kicked out of the family for being squibs. Gerhalt had managed to steal enough money from the family to pay for his own apprenticeship as a smith and is just starting out on his own. Hector on the other hand tried his hand at carpentry and despite his natural gift for it preferred his time in the woods, tending the trees and animals as well as hunting game.

"You can offer a number of things for their services, both for teaching you, and as a lodger; money, access to the books you brought back and tutoring in Transfiguration and Defence. Since you would also be imposing on Gerhalt and Hector it might also be a good idea to offer some time to work with them in the forge or in the woods. Such endeavours would certainly help you physically. I also know that the pair would be able to teach you weapon handling if you cultivate a good relationship with them.

"Perhaps the best thing you could do though, using the Potter books you might well be able to use their historic affinity for stonework to branch into masonry and build them a home."

A glimmer of suspicion was growing within Harry. "It seems like they are getting rather a lot just for my being there. Let's see you suggest money, knowledge, labour and a new home. I get knowledge. That doesn't seem like the greatest trade to me. Are you sure you're not 'looking out for one of your own' and taking advantage of me?"

He was answered by an amused snort. "Harry, with very few exceptions, everyone is looking to get something from someone else. Salazar was very right in that regard. But looking logically about what the Ravenclaw's get. Firstly money; you're taking money back anyway, the value of the galleon is much greater then, you can give some to the Ravenclaw's put some in the bank, leave it till you get back here and collect 1000 years of interest, the whole scheme won't cost you anything but will make you a fortune instead. Secondly knowledge; you will be taught by the foremost Enchanter and Magical Theorist in the world, in exchange you can offer access to a reasonably sized private library and what, if you don't learn quickly, will be the Defence and Transfiguration knowledge of a slightly above average fifth year student. Thirdly labour; the physical labour with Gerhalt and Hector will almost certainly improve your physique and conditioning and in exchange for your help you may well get weapons training, besides the adage healthy body healthy mind can be extended to include healthy magic. Exercise is a necessity for any magic user. In terms of building the house you are going to attempt to learn Potter magics anyway, the project will require significant practical use of Charms, Runes and Arithmancy and, if you are found to be capable of it, Transmutation, it will do you good to have something to aim for and to put your practical skills to good use. Besides where exactly do you think you are going to live and work during your stay? The house will be your home too."

Somewhat sheepishly now Harry looked at Rowena. "I guess that's pretty fair then"

"Indeed"

"What was that about learning Transfiguration and Defence quickly?"

"In the time you will go back to Harry there are a number of … issues, issues which will only resolve themselves with the founding of Hogwarts and the standardisation of a magical curriculum. For example, Transfiguration is a secret known only to certain families. Many of course have tried to copy it, some have even succeeded but most pay it little regard, for the simple fact that, compared to Charms, or even Curses, Jinxes and Hexes, changing one thing into another is an extremely small branch of magic. That of course overlooks the huge variety of things that one could do with such magic. At the founding of Hogwarts Godric went against his family and taught the subject to the masses, knowing full well, from Rowena's observations, that it is the most effective way to teach certain aspects of practical magic.

"Offensive and Defensive magic on the other hand had long been held up as a male only subject. The example of Morgana Le Fay used as an illustration that women are easily corrupted by such magic and it should remain a strictly male area. As such, neither of the Ravenclaw females know any Transfiguration or Defensive magic and so you can offer to teach them. While you have a little experience teaching Defence and provided you continue to read up on the subject there is no reason to believe that you would not be able to teach the pair the subject adequately, unfortunately the same cannot be said of your abilities in Transfiguration. As previously discussed this is in no small part due to both your upbringing and the need for you to focus on Defence. Your practical Transfiguration skills are certainly inadequate for the task of teaching two of such prodigious intellect as Leola and Rowena Ravenclaw. I would highly recommend you read two passages from different books, the first on the nature of spellcasting in the book _Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_ and the second an old Hogwarts prospectus from the 1300's which is in the Black library. They will tell you much about the nature of magic, and what you need to do in order to improve your skills. Following this you would do well to concentrate on relearning much of your previous teachings before you begin to teach Transfiguration."

Unsure quite what to make of the frank and somewhat disparaging appraisal of his current level Harry sat in silence.

"I do not mean to discourage you Harry. You, like a number of others, have it in you to be among the greatest magic users to have graced these halls but your past has given you much to overcome and the onus is entirely on you to do so."

Doing his best to take in her advice Harry slowly steeled himself for the next few minutes and the impact they would ultimately have on his life.

"Right, before I go is there any other advice you can give me? Oh and exactly how am I going to transport all of these books?"

"The books and other belongings can go in a trunk" A beautiful dark mahogany trunk appeared with dark metallic fastenings and five circles of the same dark metal in a row on its front. "The trunk has five compartments. The first being perfect for clothing, the second for various odds and ends, at the moment that includes your broom as well as various photos and such. The third and fourth are the Potter and Black libraries respectively and the fifth…the fifth contains the basilisk corpse. It is yours by right and if will be of great use if you follow the path of the enchanter, alternatively it is worth a fortune if properly sold. The compartments are bonded to your blood and magical signature, just place your thumb against one of the five plates for whichever compartment you require.

"As for advice I would recommend that you write a number of books. A diary of your time would help you to both understand and deal with your problems. It would also help acclimatise to the time period and might well prove an interesting historical document. I would also recommend writing books for various magics you come across both the ones you successfully cast, and the ones you come across during your research that you do not wish to forget before you can learn them.

"I would also strongly advise you to open up to Leola Ravenclaw and do whatever it takes to get her on your side. She is a strong and determined woman, she is also very proud and it will not be easy to sway her. However, she can also be very compassionate when the mood takes her, your story will gain her sympathy just tell her _all_ of it." She looked pointedly at him.

"Finally, I wish to give you an important gift," she held up a chain and pendant made from the same metal as the trunk fastenings and a purple pearl. "This amulet and the five like it, are in your case, they interpret the intention behind words, whether in spoken or written form, allowing you to communicate with any sentient creature and read and understand any written work."

She handed it to Harry who held it with reverence. "It is of course priceless. But unfortunately necessary if you are to communicate with your hosts."

"H-how did you get it?" his voice was almost a whisper as he was struggling to come to terms with the power he could feel emanating from the pendant.

"The six of them were actually in the Potter house. From what I can tell, they are rather ancient family heirlooms of yours."

"So I actually really own these things?"

"You do yes. One of your non-Potter ancestors was himself an enchanter of some note."

Realising there was little left to say he put on the pendant and tucked it beneath his shirt. "Right, what do I have to do?"

The room adapted again and an odd sunken area appeared at the behind Rowena's armchair. At its centre was a chalk circle surrounded by a plethora of Runes. Harry had never taken Runes so had few points comparison but he had never seen an array so complex. As he dragged the trunk over to the circle he could feel the magic in the atmosphere in the same way he could feel it rolling off the pendant. Obviously the magic didn't feel the same but it seemed to be a similar level of power. Harry wasn't sure whether he was surprised by how powerful the pendant was as it required the same power as a ritual to send him back over 1000 years or whether to be concerned the ritual required the same level of power as an amulet which allowed him to talk to any person or magical creature in the world. To have that much magic involved was definitely cause for concern, one minor error with that much magic would certainly kill him, that said, it wouldn't be at the hands of Voldemort so he probably wouldn't die. Maybe there was an advantage to the prophecy after all.

Settling himself in the centre of the circle he looked again at the manifestation of Rowena who was observing him a warm smile. It looked oddly out of place on her face but the effect was to turn the regal woman from strikingly beautiful to an object of awe.

"Good luck Harry Potter. I will not say make your parents proud, as you owe it to yourself and yourself alone to be the best you can be."

With her words the magic in the air seemed to dissipate but Harry could see that instead it was going into charging the runic circle. The white chalk was beginning to glow. Seconds past and the circle was now an ethereal blue, he could feel both the magic and heat from the runes as the charged gathered. The blue glow was getting darker before with a flash and a cry of pain Harry found himself thrown to the ground from his position by his trunk, the smell of burnt leaves meeting him on the way down. He briefly observed he appeared to be in a deeply forested area but by the point he had gathered in this information, he felt the cold sharp threat of metal at his throat.


	2. Chapter 02  Explanations

**Disclaimer** – None of this belongs to me really. I am just playing for my own amusement and hopefully that of others. Credit for the characters goes to JK Rowling. Credit for the inspiration goes to countless others too – Jbern, zArkham, fake a smile, whydoyouneedtoknow, kb0, kassien, Landstradd, s'tarkan, Vulkan…honestly the list is huge if anything I write entertains people half as much as they have me I'll be happy.

**About Story** – I would like to thank everyone for their response to this new version as it has been universally positive (not that I don't appreciate critical reviews but still it was rather nice). A few notes about the following chapters. The nature of this story is that it will take years and frankly not a lot will happen thats worth putting in detail. The purpose of **Feels Like Home – Diary** when writing the original was to show the back story for those like me who like the extra details but mainly because I have huge issues with stories where Harry trains over a summer and is suddenly a match for all comers. The purpose of that story was to detail his life and to show the work he put into improving. I still like the diary concept as a means for documenting the passing of time but rather than be a separate story, the next few chapters after this one will be split between diary format and normal prose leaning more towards diary unless its really important. I only write this as a few people have asked whether I will rewrite **Feels Like Home – Diary** as well.

As for other questions the Harry/Rowena thing I have been umm-ing and arrh-ing about that but will probably keep my plans as they are. It really shouldn't take rocket science to work out who he'll end up with.

Finally I realise this probably isn't the kind of chapter people might have hoped for after such a long wait but consider this and the previous chapter a prologue. Once I have more of the story written down rather than in my head I will probably be modifying and fixing Chapters so if you see mistakes or glaring holes please let me know so I can sort it out. Cheers.

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><p>"Get to your feet boy" Harry bristled at the term from the harsh, masculine voice behind him.<p>

As he slowly manoeuvred his way to his feet, Harry tried to reach for the wand he had put in his pocket during the ritual.

"Hand's where I can see them." A second, deeper male voice responded to his, he thought, subtle attempt was almost immediate.

"Head towards the smoke coming from just to the left, I'll be right behind you." Keeping his hands raised Harry turned left and was just able to see a few puffs of smoke rising some distance away through gaps in the trees. Their height suggested a chimney so maybe it was a cottage he was aiming for.

Still with his hands raised he tried to walk as slowly as he feasibly could to give himself time to think. He appeared to be in a small clearing of some sort though quite what the two men were doing there to respond to him so quickly he didn't know. He hadn't even been able to get a look at them before his neck was threatened.

What the hell had happened with the ritual? He was being held at the point of a sword by someone who was certainly not Rowena or her mother.

After a few minutes of silent walking and a number of not so gentle shoves the trees fell away to leave a much larger clearing housing a small stone cottage with a girl outside struggling valiantly with something in a basin of water. Further away was another hut, this one wooden and much more temporary looking. The smoke, rather than coming from the cottage, instead appeared to originate from an odd looking building, largely hidden behind the shelters.

"Rowena!" the initial voice cried and Harry sighed in relief as the young woman looked up to see them with a look of surprise "Uncle who is this?" her voice suggest disdain and a measure of haughtiness but also caution and a hint of fear.

"That's what we intend to find out" growled a second man. "Go inside and stay there until it's safe."

"And get your mother," the first man continued "we need to use that stone of hers."

Rowena nodded and strode away, holding herself proudly. More relaxed now he knew the ritual had worked Harry stumbled as an unexpected shove in the back forced him to move again this time towards a tree stump nearer the cottage

Fairly certain that he was in no immediate danger, Harry remained relaxed, possibly the calming draught Hogwarts had given him still lingered in his system "Is it alright if I sit down? I'll turn around slowly. I'd prefer to be stabbed in the front than the back."

A hastily covered snort from the second man gave Harry the confidence to move. Still with his hands in the air and with a speed akin to that of a sloth he turned to face his captors.

The man holding the sword at his neck was tall, much taller than Harry, though that was perhaps not the best comparison. Harry guessed he was slightly over six feet with dark straggly hair and piercing grey eyes. His tanned skin and well-used clothing suggested a life outdoors.

The second man was carrying Harry's trunk. He was completely bald and shorter but broader than his compatriot, he was also sleeveless with his arms displayed numerous burns. Possibly this was Gerhalt the squib smith, Rowena's uncle making the other man Hector. That would explain the wooden hunt, possibly the other stone building was a smithy.

Just as he was about to lower himself to sit, a woman appeared. Honey blonde hair was pulled back away from her face but other than the hair her resemblance to the manifestation of the older Rowena was uncanny, especially the eyes, the hard and intelligent eyes.

"Rowena suggested you need my truth stone?"

"We do Ms Ravenclaw. I'm not sure if you heard or saw that flash a few minutes ago but this lad just appeared from nowhere holding this trunk." The man he assumed was Hector pointed to Harry's luggage.

Leola moved over to investigate the trunk, drawing out her wand. Two minutes passed before she gasped before turning sharply to look at Harry, her wand focussed between his eyes.

"Where did you get this? How did you make it? Do you know how many laws it breaks?"

"It was a gift I didn't make it and what do you mean about laws?" Harry replied warily caught as he was between a sword and an irate enchantress.

"The laws boy! Five different things occupying the same dimensional space. Its unheard of! It could provide countless advances. How was it done?"

"Look I really don't know but you could study it if you like, I'm hoping to be here a while."

The trio looked at him suspiciously. The wand was held a little firmer, the sword a little straighter and now the trunk was on the floor Harry could see the man with the burnt arms was twirling a rather serious looking hammer. Despite his relaxed state and his previous thought that only Voldemort could kill him, Harry was starting to grow rather nervous.

"I-I've been sent here so that you can teach me." Harry blurted out. "I can pay."

The trio moved closer various weapons still raised.

"Where did you come from? You can't have money, you're dressed in rags, who sent you?" Leola's voice was threatening and if it weren't for his glasses Harry would be concerned about her taking his eye out with her wand. Thinking quickly and clutching at straws Harry had an idea.

"You said something about a truth stone? I'm guessing it lets you know if I'm lying. Can we use that, so you'll know I'm being honest. My story's a bit weird."

Seeing the logic behind it Leola lowered her wand though the sword and hammer maintained their threatening position, and brought out a fist size whitish stone covered in Runes handing it to Harry, her hand returning quickly to her wand. "Hold this and we'll ask you questions. It will compel you to speak. If you lie it will turn black." Harry nodded his understanding unhappy about the compulsion but seeing little alternative he waited.

"Where did you come from?"

"The future." Seeing the stone remain white the trio, and Leola in particular gasped.

A stunned silence lasted only for a few moments before a newly cautious Leola continued "How far?"

"A bit over a thousand years"

Leola was shocked into silence and Gerhalt didn't appear to be fairing much better so it was Hector who carried on with the questioning "How did you get here?"

"Some kind of ritual. I'm not sure exactly what but it took a lot of power."

"Why here then?"

"It was err…thought that I should learn as much magic as I could but concentrate on Runes and Charms. Leola Ravenclaw was thought to be the most suitable of any time period for me to learn from."

When nothing more seemed forthcoming, a now fully comprehensive Leola Ravenclaw interjected "That really doesn't explain much at all. It seems an awful lot of trouble to go to. Is there no one you can learn from without going back in time? Is there no one else capable of teaching you from some other time period? How are you planning to get back to your own era? Above all else why should I help you?"

The visibly more nervous Harry tried desperately to put his words together. "You see, well, err… before I was born there was a war going on. A Dark Lord was taking over everywhere and though people were trying to stop him, he and his followers were just too strong.

"Then there was a prophecy was made. It sort of suggests I was the only one who was going to be able to get rid of him. Somehow, when I was a baby I managed it for a while but he came back a year ago after getting stronger since I first got rid of him. Despite the prophecy being around since before I was born I only found out about it twenty-four hours ago, I panicked a bit and tried to get help since I've never been trained for anything like this. They sent me to you.

"As for why you there are a few reasons. My… sender advised me of my families historical affinities for the first time. Historically my dad's family has had a gift for Runes and Transfiguration while my mum was gifted in Charms and Potions. But because of the life I've had I was always forced to focus on Defence. My sender knew a lot about quite a few potential teachers but when I said I wanted to concentrate primarily on Charms and Runes Leola Ravenclaw was suggested.

"She, err…my sender, felt that given our respective histories we could benefit each other greatly." He finished rather lamely.

"That is all well and good but if your 'sender' truly knew me and us then they should know that I would never take an apprentice, particularly at a time such as this, so why did they try?"

"They said that because of your current situation and the fact that I can pay gold you may reconsider. They then suggested that I offer access to the two family libraries I brought back with me to study from. I'm also willing to do any work in the woods or forge Hector and Gerhalt here want, for free of course, and if you give me a bit of time to train myself up on my own I'd be more than happy to teach yourself and Rowena Transfiguration and some Defence techniques as well as all the Jinxes, Hexes and Curses I know."

"While a reasonable explanation there are some major holes. For a start as you offered to teach us you must know that it is not considered prudent for women to learn offensive magic."

"Yeah but that's based on a ludicrous idea and comes down from a government that wishes to suppress…I'd say a minority but its half the magical population, purely because they can. It's a ridiculous law and frankly I'd be happy to flout it. Defence is taught to everyone in my school and it's definitely the blokes I'm more worried about hexing me." Harry was somewhat shocked by his little rant but was still able to notice that for the first time Leola's eyes held surprise and curiosity rather than suspicion.

"Okay…you are speaking the truth there but surely in the past 1000 years there has been someone who would make a more effective teacher than myself or my daughter?"

Sighing Harry broke eye contact, he didn't really want to talk about this, despite being discouraged from any ideas about paradoxes it was still a concern just how much damaging the information could be to the future. Looking up and into Leola's eyes he tried to at least prevent the future founder from knowing. "I will tell you but do you know any privacy wards? It's pretty important?"

Leola was somewhat alarmed and Gerhalt and Hector looked confused at the abrupt change in direction the conversation had taken. Leola looked at Harry for a moment more before moving a few paces back. She looked up at the sun before moving her position slightly and bending down to the ground a few seconds later she moved and Harry saw what he assumed was a rune carved into the ground. She did this again three more times at what he guessed where the cardinal points before moving back to the centre of the newly formed square and bending down again. Harry saw what he had taken to be a rune was, at least this time a collection of runes laid out in a specific pattern. This seemed to take a few seconds longer than the other four had but when she was done Leola stood slightly and placed her wand at the centre of this array. Harry could feel the magic flow out connecting to the four points and enclosing them in what he assumed was the requested privacy ward. The setup of the ward had taken little more than a minute but Harry couldn't help but be shocked by the power he had observed from using runes, Hermione had never mentioned anything about that in her classes.

"The ward is up. You have me intrigued boy." Harry winced "I hope the effort I went to is worth it."

"Can you please not call me boy? My name is Harry. I have some…bad experiences with being called boy."

Leola shook off her momentary confusion at his tone to nod her acquiescence.

"My school in the future was founded by two wizards and two witches, one of whom is your daughter." The assembled audience were startled by this. "Now I have been advised that various things such as time paradoxes are unlikely to occur but I cannot help but be wary." With an intrigued look Leola nodded again which Harry took to mean that she agreed with the necessity of the wards.

"I'm not sure exactly when the school is founded, certainly within the next sixty years as the school itself is over a thousand in my time. Whether it was built that way or whether 1000 years of being so close to magic has affected it the school is somewhat sentient. A particular room within the castle is especially powerful, giving the user whatever they require. Having just heard a prophecy which stated I have to kill the Dark Lord or he will kill me, right after seeing the closest thing I have to a father die, I was distraught and went to this room, unaware of my surroundings, and without thinking asked it for help fulfilling the prophecy and sorting my life out. The school, being sentient chose to come to me and discuss ways in which it may help and ultimately decided to send me back to train. While the school knows a lot about everyone who goes through its halls it obviously knows the most about its Founders and decided you and Rowena would be the best for me." Looking around Harry saw the looks of shock on the faces of the men and a look of some understanding on that of Leola.

"Well at least that explains the 'sender' comment."

Minutes of silence passed and Harry was getting concerned, though there sword had been lowered from right by his neck and Gerhalt was no longer fingering the hammer in quite the same way.

Eventually, after what felt like an age Leola broke the silence "I understand your plight and you have clearly spoken the truth. That said I do not like to be pressured, by anyone. It does not sit well with me that I have been forced into this position, both by your need and my necessity."

"I understand ma'am" Harry spoke slowly "There was one other thing I might be able to offer to smooth the situation."

Leola's arched eyebrow was the only response

"One of the libraries I've brought back, from my immediate family, specialises in Runes and Transfiguration magic, but my family also have an affinity for stoneworking. I only just found this out but there are books in the library which I am told will explain how to work stone. I was led to believe that after much practice, and with the benefit of some Runes and Charms work I might be able to build you and your daughter a new home."

There was a sharp intake of breath from all three listeners. "Why would you do this?" whispered an again suspicious, but now somewhat awed Leola.

"A couple of reasons. One because, while I'm back in this time period I'm going to need somewhere to live myself, while I'm studying under you it'll probably be here so I would like to be comfortable." The trio indicated they could see the logic in that. "Secondly, if and when I leave I'll have had practice building a house so I'll be able to build my own, and thirdly because I work and learn most effectively with a given goal, when I can see the purpose of something. I would prefer to improve my magical skill by studying the concepts required for building a house or for some other practical purpose, rather than say learning a charm to plait nasal hair."

The trio sat, astounded by the young man in front of them and struggling to come to terms with the manner in which particularly Leola and Rowena's lives may have changed in less than an hour.

To give herself more time to understand the consequences of what was about to happen, Leola asked what she thought was a fairly innocuous question. "You have access to family libraries which I assume are quite large so you're clearly not muggleborn yet you do not know much about them?"

"My mother was a muggleborn, my father was a … actually I'm not quite sure how pure my father's blood is or how old the family is but he was a pureblood. The dark lord I was prophesized to kill heard part of this prophecy and decided to try and kill me as a baby. My family were betrayed to the dark lord by a supposed friend and he came to the house when I was just over a year old, killed my father then my mum but when he tried to kill me his curse backfired and hit him and he was…I suppose knocked out of his body is the best way to describe it. Due to the prophecy I was left in the care of my magic hating muggle relatives and left ignorant of my family history.

"Finally when I was eleven I was invited to learn magic at a school and began to learn a little of my past but between fighting the same dark lord in both wraith and physical form, killing a basilisk and fighting off hundreds of Dementors my years have been rather busy. When I stumbled into the Room of Requirement, I guess about ten hours or so ago I was suddenly informed all about the Potter and Black libraries. To be honest before that thoughts about family history and what I might actually have haven't been high on my agenda."

The casual way he spoke about Dementors and a Basilisk alarmed Leola and cut through her current stupefaction as too did something else. "Did you say the Black library? As in the Black Knight? From the line of Tom a'Lincoln, the bastard son of Arthur?" asked an excited Leola.

Alarmed at the thought and unnerved by the excitement of Lady Ravenclaw Harry spoke hurriedly. "I have no idea. I know it's called the Ancient and Noble House of Black so it's possible but as with the Potter books I haven't looked through them I only knew my Godfather briefly."

Harry could actually see Leola processing the information he had given in a matter of seconds. "Look, if I could open the trunk you'd be welcome to have a look, I'm interested to know myself."

Though she clearly considered the proposition for a moment Leola turned back to face him instead. "Perhaps later when we've established just what is to be done with you.

"If, and trust me until I've seen proof of your claims and your gold it's still a very big if, I am to take you on as an apprentice I need to know more about you, your history, ambitions, intellect and so forth.

"You stated you have been forced to concentrate on Defence. This is a concern as it implies you do not organise your time well, or at the very least aren't especially disciplined. You then stated you needed more time to 'train yourself up a bit' in Transfiguration. Given your age you have presumably been studying for some time, the fact that you deem yourself incapable of teaching a subject to two novices after studying it for some length of time is worrying.

"Then there is your bearing, just from the little I have seen, you are hunched, almost crippled looking, while that may be understandable at the moment due to the discovery of this prophecy, it does not make a good impression. As for your clothes, while they maybe the fashion a thousand years from now, their current state, they are patched, frayed and faded and put on without any apparent regard for coordination or fit. This indicates a lack of pride in ones appearance which in turn indicates a lack of pride in ones self. This is a trademark of the lazy and incompetent, those who drift through life and again does not speak well of you. None of this is to say that I won't take you on, given our circumstances, if your gold is real I have little choice, just that you have much to overcome and you have not made an overly favourable first impression."

Looking between the three faces he saw that Gerhalt was wearing a look of slight disbelief and Hector still appeared to think him dangerous given his hold on his sword. Leola on the other hand was looking at him with an imperious look similar to the regal air the older image of her daughter had worn judging him sternly. It reminded him of McGonagall, though he was pleased to note not quite as scary, he thought perhaps that was because he was older and had been through so much before meeting her.

"I know I haven't made a great impression and parts of it are my fault but parts of it aren't. I only really know the basics of your situation at the moment but I can understand your caution. The manifestation of your daughter advised me to do anything I can to get you on my side so I think you need to hear my whole story. Now this isn't easy for me to talk about so please forgive me if it takes a while some parts are very fresh and some I've never spoken about.

"I was born to James and Lily Potter on the 31st July 1980 and as far as I can tell for the first fifteen months of my childhood I was an incredibly happy child even in the midst of a war. Whether my parents knew of the prophecy or that it could apply to me not I do not know anyway it states;

"_The one with the power to vanquish the- Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."_

"There were actually two of us this could apply to and this dark lord, who called himself Lord Voldemort, having heard only the first part of the prophecy, up to _as the seventh month dies_, decided to eliminate us. One of my parents friends betrayed them and on Halloween 1981 led Voldemort to their location. Voldemort killed my father and then my mother but when he cast the killing curse at me it somehow rebounded, hitting him instead. It is believed that due to some form of blood protection my mother was able to invoke I survived, I really don't have any idea how Voldemort did though.

"Due to my fame in the magical world for effectively ending the war, and more importantly, due to the alleged blood protection of my mother, I was sent to live with my mother's sister and her family in the muggle world. This had the added advantage of keeping me in relative obscurity, as in 1692 the magical and muggle worlds were separated and the magical kept secret, until I would return to the wizarding world to begin my schooling in magic."

Seeing the trio were following him, Harry continued "Now that is just things I have found out since I was eleven and returned to the magical world. As I said I was left to be raised by my mother's sister. It was not a pleasant childhood. I was four when I stopped asking for seconds of the food. I was five when I stopped asking for more on my plate for the one or two meals a day I was reluctantly given. I lived in a cupboard smaller than a standard bed until my eleventh birthday. Their son, who was my age, and who's hand-me-down clothes I am currently wearing, was allowed to beat me in sight of my uncle, my aunt only stepped in twice. Though I was never properly checked, I think beatings from Dudley, their son, were responsible for at least four broken ribs, a cracked skull, a broken wrist and a dislocated jaw. My aunt rarely hit me but when she did it was with a thick wooden rolling pin or a cast iron frying pan. She herself was responsible for three broken arms, another cracked skull and something that was horribly wrong with my spine. My uncle was the worst. He preferred his fists or a cricket bat, six broken legs, a shattered knee, a dislocated shoulder and sever blunt force trauma to more or less every muscle in my body. The beatings from my aunt and uncle were actually not that regular, just hurt a lot more and tended to be reserved for special occasions.

"From the age of six I did all the cooking, looking back for the first three months my aunt actually gave me some leeway to learn what I was doing and wasn't so brutal when things went wrong. One time when I was seven though I had been weeding the garden while the roast pork was on, Dudley kicked me breaking a rib I passed out outside and the pork burnt. I woke up two days later in my cupboard with a unusual pains in my arms and burn scars all over my hands."

"I'm making it sound like my childhood was one long physical torture session, it wasn't really like that, months went by at a time between my aunts and uncles beatings but the threat was always there.

"Looking back the most disgraceful, and actually damaging thing they did was stop me learning. From the age of four, all children in Britain, in my time, are required to go to school. At school they learn to read and write, and gradually begin to learn the sciences as well as history and geography, possibly music and art, or another language. From what I can gather, I don't remember everything, it was a long time ago, I was very good in school to begin with, first or second in the class, at that age I still thought if I was a better boy I could get them to love me. After the first few beatings for scoring higher marks than Dudley I tried to hide my intelligence but continue to study. Even then the occasional mark would slip through. Little by little I stopped trying so hard to stay on top of the work. Not that I couldn't do it but gradually I lost motivation, it was just too demoralizing.

"My eleventh birthday everything changed. I found out about magic and I was going to be whisked away to live in a castle and learn to make things float and make animals out of chairs. I was going to get a chance to have friends, Dudley wouldn't be beating up everyone who tried to talk to me, I could be normal."

Once he started the story Harry had barely taken notice off his surroundings. It was odd from what he had been told it was cathartic to open yourself up like that, frankly at the moment he just felt worse, everything he had tried to repress from his early childhood had been brought back up. Hector he saw was no longer openly fingering his sword, instead he had a melancholy look about him as if remembering his own upbringing, so too did Gerhalt. Harry supposed the life of a squib born to an important magical family might not be too dissimilar to his own. Leola looked upset, it was an odd look on her regal features but she looked no less lovely for it.

"It was a sad day when I finally realised I could never be normal in the magical world either. I knew I was famous yes but in second year I found the downside that comes with fame. The school found out I was a parselmouth" seeing their confusion he clarified "I can speak to snakes. In my time this has unpleasant connotations and given that at that time it came out during my second year, students were being attacked by a basilisk, which could only be controlled by a parselmouth it only made things worse. The school's reaction was…unpleasant and bore startling similarities to my treatment by my relatives, though without the violence.

"During my five years in the school I have been lauded as a hero and ostracised as a dangerous attention seeking menace, in the background of all this has been my continued attempts to fit in, to not stand out from the crowd, values ingrained in me by my upbringing. The only subject to have broken through this resolve was Defence against the Dark Arts, and only then because I have found myself in life threatening situations every year, mountain trolls, dementors, a basilisk, a werewolf, possessed professors, incompetent professors, vindictive professors all with the shadow of Voldemort hanging over me made Defence a necessity. I want you to know that none of this is an excuse for the lack of dedication to my studies so far but I hope it at least puts it into context, as well as explaining my physique, in my time five foot three makes me the smallest boy in my year. As for my clothes, hopefully that will change while I'm here but despite having money I was unable to buy things without my relatives finding out and taking them as well as any money I may have."

Leola grimaced at the suffering of the young man in front of her. Life growing up in the tenth century was hard but it was seldom as hard as Harry's upbringing had been. She knew Hector and Gerhalt had not had the best childhood's either but they had managed to run away. Looking at the pair of them she could see their faces were filled with a measure of pity and understanding and no small amount of respect. The fact that Harry was still holding the truth stone during his explanation only emphasised the boys courage. In spite of herself she felt a little disappointed in herself for her harsh words to him earlier, they were necessary though, even if this boy could be the answer to all of their problems she would never be taken in so easily again, especially by a wizard.

"In light of your history, both your appearance and your stated level of knowledge are…understandable Harry. I am willing to help train you in your use of magic and I can understand from your previous statements how it came to be me chosen if you were to concentrate on Charms and Runes but I don't understand why you felt the need to concentrate on them in the first place. The family affinities aspect I can understand, but you said your fathers family affinities are for Transfiguration as well as Runes and your mother also had a gift at Potions, why not concentrate on them? Or better yet given the time aspect, why not go to school just in a different time period?"

"Well I suppose the Charms aspect is easy to explain, if you think about it there are a pretty wide range of hexes jinxes and curses and things but in reality despite the number of them they are rather limited in their everyday use. Their real purpose is to hurt, injure or humiliate and there are only so many situations where that is useful. As for transfiguration it can be incredibly complex but that is largely due to the intricacies of changing one thing into another thing. There is actually a rather limited variety of spells. There is a certain finesse to the different spells due to the discoveries have how changing a wooden chair into a dog, varies from doing the same spell but with a metal chair but the overriding magic is still the same. Charms make up over ninety percent of the useful everyday magic done with a wand I would think so if I'm going to concentrate on one wanded form of magic that's the obvious one to go for. Plus that was what attracted me to magic in the first plays, making things fly and move around and other such things.

"The Runes bit is a little bit different, our education starts off in first year with seven different subjects, after our second year we can choose from an extra five as well, one of which is Ancient Runes. I actually chose Care of Magical Creatures and Divination, mostly because my best friend did, I was trying to be normal. From about three months in I knew for a fact Divination was a massive mistake but it was too late to change and I should have taken Ancient Runes or Arithmancy, or perhaps both."

"Arithmancy?" interjected a confused Gerhalt

"It's the study of the magic of numbers. Sounds dull but its more or less the Maths and Science behind magic and eventually it leads to spell and potion creation as well as new rituals and warding schemes. Pretty much every major magical innovation has its root somewhere in Arithmancy.

"When I was given this opportunity, and finally found out about my family affinities I grabbed the opportunity to study Runes with both hands."

"And the reason for not going to school and concentrating on all of the possible subjects?" questioned Leola.

"Actually a couple of reasons, firstly you can learn more with individual tuition and secondly, there is much more flexibility in what you can learn. Plus the school has records and there is an outside chance if I went to school in the past it might be discovered."

At this point it was Hector surprisingly, who jumped in. "You've said a lot about what you can do for Leola and Rowena but you also mentioned working with me and Gerhalt. What exactly are you expecting to do?"

"Err…honestly I don't really know. I really need some sort of physical exercise so working in the forge or the woods will be good for me. As for the forge, smithy work is not really a popular profession in my time so I'm a complete novice but I'd really like to learn. As for the woods I don't know any woodcraft, but I was good in Herbology class and was very good at Care of Magical Creatures so hopefully there might be some sort of crossover. Really if you just want me as a dogsbody I'll do it. I was told you might be able to help me with some form of weapons training and I would very much appreciate it if you did. I'd be a complete novice in that as well though."

After a moments silence Leola looked at the two other men before turning back to Harry "Very well, we have heard your story and as you are no doubt aware it is compelling. We will discuss this outside the privacy ward and decide what is to be done, you have a wand?"

Harry nodded. "Very well, hand it over." Harry complied, unhappy but seeing the necessity.

The trio stepped outside of the rune based ward and Harry discovered the privacy ward was actually two-way. Unsure of what to do Harry spent the next few minutes studying the runes Leola had drawn more closely though truthfully he could discern little from them.

It didn't seem that long until the trio made their way back inside the ward. When they did it was Leola who took the lead.

"Contingent on seeing your gold the three of us have agreed to help you. I will oversee your complete magical education, though by agreement this will largely focus on Charms and Runes. It would do Rowena some good, if she agrees, to teach you magical theory and what you appear to call Arithmancy. You can teach yourself both Defence and Transfiguration before teaching the pair of us. The three of us will look through your library and the few books we managed to keep hold of to put together some form of syllabus. At the same time Gerhalt will use your help in the forge for three hours a day, six days a week. It will be hard work but you are correct about the need for exercise. Hector will teach you some woodcraft as well as some herb lore and how to deal with creatures some magical some not. He has also agreed to be your primary weapons instructor. Your weapons and woodcraft instruction, will also require three hours per day six days per week."

Harry gulped. He knew he needed exercise but wasn't entirely sure he was ready to start off with six hours of it a day.

"But before your physical training regime begins, we would do well to see if we cannot fix some of your physical problems and underlying medical conditions."

Harry was surprised by this, he had long since resigned himself to having a small and relatively weak but quick and agile physique, it was only when he had reached ten and his primary school classes on nutrition that he realised that he might not have had to be so short.

"I have some medical training." Leola continued, "based on what I find I may have to call in a more skilled healer but whatever the results I would imagine you will need some sort of recovery time. This will give us time to work out your schedule for lessons as well as your current level."

Seeing little option but to go along with the plan, he certainly couldn't think of a better one, Harry quickly agreed.

"I guess I should open the trunk and find the gold then." Seeing their agreement Harry, still somewhat wary, got up and after receiving his wand and returning the truth stone to Leola, moved over to the trunk. Pressing his thumb against the first lock and despite his belief in the manifestation of Rowena and the power of Hogwarts he was still relieved when he heard the lock click open.

As he was told, the first compartment was his clothes. Given that it had a three times expansion charm on it and he had a distinct lack of even hand-me-down clothing, the cavernous space was rather bare at present. Embarrassed despite himself Harry quickly shut the lid and moved onto the next lock. This compartment was rather empty too, his broom and his own books and photos looking a little lost in the space.

"Is that part of your libraries? There's not much there." Harry turned to find a disappointed looking Leola Ravenclaw.

"No these are just the ones I used in my first years at school." Pointing his wand into the trunk Harry incanted "_Accio books_."

He struggled under the pile of books having failed to understand just how many books he had gone through in five years of school, and barely managed to lower them all to the ground without doing himself a mischief.

Turning round and panting slightly Harry was surprised to see a disapproving glare from Leola.

"Please tell me, future apprentice, that you only had to say an incantation for a simple summoning charm because the time travel took more out of you than you thought." The stern older woman questioned.

"What do you mean? Is there another way to do it?" asked a perplexed Harry

"We must discuss this more thoroughly Harry, it is a setback I hadn't envisaged."

A little taken aback by the brief interruption it was a couple of moments before Harry returned to opening the various compartments of his trunk. As expected the third compartment was the Potter library. It reminded Harry of that think he'd seen once when he was dragged to his uncle's office, a rolodex, with the books apparently on some sort of central spindle he could rotate to come upon the next topic. The surprised gasp from behind him let him know that Leola was significantly more impressed this time. He spent a few minutes scrolling through the books, trying to get back to the start point, honestly shocked at the number of books he appeared to have.

He stopped the rolling library as he came across a shelf devoid of books. Instead all he found were five amulets like his own made of the same thin strands of rune-inscribed silver metal caging a black pearl, itself covered in thin metallic runes. Remembering the castles explanation he quickly grabbed two and turned to Leola, who, as he suspected she might, was trying to look through the books he had brought up from the previous compartment.

"If you're going to try and read them you'll need one of these" he interjected quickly as he noticed a frown appearing on her face.

At her questioning look he continued. "Apparently one of my ancestors was a gifted enchanter. Anyway he made these communication amulets. Apparently they read the intent behind any form of communication by any sentient being so languages don't matter." He pulled out his own necklace. "It's how I've been able to speak to you despite the language changing in 1000 years." He held out the two amulets he had picked up "One's for you and one for Rowena. There are more for other people, I'm not sure if Hector or Gerhalt will need one."

Putting down the books she was attempting to read, Leola stepped forward to look at the amulet, though she didn't yet appear likely to take hold of it directly. Instead she pulled out her wand and cast a series of what Harry guessed were diagnostic Charms. With each successive cast her expression changed from suspicion to intrigue and finally to awe. Nervously she looked at Harry who just smiled encouragingly as she held out her hand and grasped the powerful objects. She briefly studied them more closely before lowering one of them over her head. Turning back to the book she had previously been attempting to decipher another gasp let Harry know the amulet worked.

Seeing that Leola was occupied for the moment, Harry turned back again to the trunk, this time opening the fourth compartment. This one was much the same as the Potter library compartment, though by the length of time it took Harry to scroll through them there appeared to be considerably more books. This time, as he came to the end of the Black library it was he who gasped. In the place of the Potter library's amulets were a series of gold bullion style bricks. About forty of them. His gasp drew the attention of Leola who managed to drag herself away from Harry's schoolbooks long enough for her eyes to widen at the gleam from the trunk.

Quickly discarding the books, Leola moved toward the trunk and after briefly looking at Harry and seeing his nod she cast a series of different diagnostic charms on the gold. As soon as she was satisfied they were genuine she turned back to Harry and with great dignity responded to his unasked question.

"The gold is real. It is also a greater fortune than I have ever observed in one place before. I believe that in light of this the price for our assistance will have to be a single brick each for Heactor, Gerhalt and Rowena and two for myself as your primary tutor, plus an extra brick to be held as collateral against the new home you have promised."

Harry opened his mouth to accept but Leola continued.

"I realise that the amount is excessive especially considering that you are planning on building us a house but we have...debts. Depending on how well your apprenticeship goes I may also be willing to carry out some custom enchanting work for you, free of charge of course." Harry was thrown by the rambling of the highborn woman until he caught the hint of desperation in her tone.

"I agree to your terms Madam Ravenclaw, in fact I think I'm getting off rather lightly, besides, it won't really just be me building the house will it? I think to make it both as comfortable and as protected as we both would like, it will need high quality wards and enchantments. I can only imagine that they would be much more effective if layered throughout the building from its very beginning."

The relief pouring from the witch was palpable, even to someone as emotionally stunted as Harry and he himself found he had some sympathy for her situation, forced as she was to rely on the kindness of others having previously been mistress of her own fate. The tension he could feel as she was forced to beg him for more than she thought her help was worth touched a very real nerve and resonated with the thoughts he had always had about the situation between Sirius and his parents. It felt good for him to be able to continue, or given the time in history, start, a tradition of Potters helping those in need.

Having agreed to the arrangement, both Harry and Leola were clearly much more comfortable and the pair hesistantly made their way back over to the tree stumps where they sat.

"As it is rather late I think it best to wait for tomorrow to carry out your full medical evaluation. Today I feel it would be a better use of our time to more accurately codify what you are to learn."

"Now first things first, we believe it best for you to stay with Hector for the duration of your stay. He stays in the wooden shelter over there while Gerhalt sleeps in the smithy. This is due to your initial hours with Hector being the first three hours after breakfast and for the sake of Rowena she is both uncomfortable around strangers and it would be improper for her to stay under the same, small roof as an unrelated single man."

The attitude more than anything gave Harry pause as he was going to have to get used to a new culture and that the whole situation maybe more difficult, confusing and downright scary than he had thought. Then again, Rowena had apparently just been involved in an attempted rape, this may well have been a subtle way of the family protecting her. Even so there was going to be a culture shock.

"Now I suppose its best if you start from the beginning. You said you were introduced to magic at eleven? Is this standard or were you a late developer? What lessons were you given?"

Slightly alarmed by the 'late developer' comment Harry quickly began to explain the schooling, house and examination systems to an increasingly confused and annoyed Leola.

"So you start learning just seven subjects and NONE of them are Runes or Arithmancy?" she asked incredulously. "You learn about magical plants from year one but not magical creatures? The only chance of an introduction to culture is through badly managed History classes or a joke class called Muggle Studies?"

"Err...yes I suppose so. Though whether it has always been like that I don't know. Actually wait a second, it was recommended I look up an old school prospectus from the 1300's that's in one of the libraries give me a moment."

Moving back to the trunk and opening it onto the Black library, he spent a few silent minutes scrolling through the books looking for the prospectus before giving up and flourishing his wand.

"_Accio School Prospectus_"

Harry winced at the huff behind as the library rapidly rotated and an ancient manuscript flew to his outstretched hand.

Quickly skimming through the ancient book he came across the class descriptions.

_**APPRENTICE LEVEL **_

_**Active Magic Subjects**_

_Charms_

_Uses the study of active magical interaction with the environment, e.g. the 'Lumos' spell, to teach the understanding of the nature of magic._

_Defence_

_Teaches various Offensive hexes, curses and jinxes, along with various shields and defensive techniques, to better understand the discipline required in dealing with magic_

_Potions_

_Teaches the combining of various ingredients within a magical framework to produce a substance that has a magical effect on its environment._

_Runes_

_Runes studies the 'language' of magic with each runic symbol, when imbued with magic, having a magical effect. Runes form the basis for a variety of alternative magics, including, but not limited to, rituals, enchantments and wards._

_Transfiguration_

_Uses passive magical interaction with the environment, e.g. turning something into a candle, to teach fine control of magical power_

_**Supporting Subjects**_

_Animal Husbandry_

_This course teaches care of the various creatures with which we share our environment, most notably magical creatures. The course promotes positive interaction with other creatures due to the sentient nature of many creatures and in no small part the properties of many such creatures. Essential for the understanding of Potions and potion ingredients_

_Arithmancy_

_Investigates the nature of magic and how the various parts of magical processes fit together through study of the numerical patterns involved in wand movements and/or Ritual or Potion based magic_

_Astronomy_

_Analyses the effect of extraterrestrial bodies on active magic. Important precursor to Rituals and fundamental to the study of Potions, Herbology, Magical Creatures and Magical Culture._

_Herbology_

_Investigates the nature of plants, both magical and non-magical teaching the proper care for such flora. In particular care of magical plants is promoted due to the involvement of such plants in alternative magics. Fundamental to the study of Potions and potion ingredients._

_History of Magic_

_This subject teaches students about magical culture and traditions, aiming to explain various wizarding traditions, as well as encouraging critical assessment of historical events and source material._

_Muggle Studies_

_Teaches students how to fit in with the non-magical world as well as keeping students abreast of pertinent progress among muggle, including advances in art, literature and music as well as scientific and technological advancement. _

"Why didn't they teach us like this!" exclaimed an exasperated Harry.

"I do not know. That seems much closer to my own understanding of the subjects and seems to me at least, to be a reasonable starting point for what we are to learn.

"Now that gives us a basic starting point of ten subjects to learn. Muggle studies is rather unnecessary, you can learn that by being here, and I assume you are competent enough with it in your own time." Seeing him agree she continued.

"History of magic should be based largely around magical culture, since the history you're more likely to know is in our future and that can be picked up rather easily in chats with any of us perhaps if we make time once a week."

"Okay so is that on the day off I have? I know I'm with Gerhalt and Hector six days a week."

"Hmm...actually it might be better if that was five days a week as we all take turns to have a day off so there will be days were they aren't around. I that's the case then maybe Gerhalt or Hectors day off we should talk about culture.

"We should probably define the hours with them as well. Two hours with Gerhalt in the forge, two hours with Hector, he would be best to teach you Herbology and Animal Husbandry as well as some aspects of Astronomy. He also has significant knowledge of Potions so those lessons may well be split between us. Then two hours weapons training with Gerhalt and/or Hector. Physical fitness is highly important to magical development and that would be the most effective route to it.

"As for the rest, three hours a day split between Defence and Transfiguration, maybe two hours researching for yourself and forming a lesson plan for one subject, followed by a lesson for Rowena and I in the other. Finally of course would be your own Runes and Charms lessons. I believe no less than a combined three hours per day for those two as well, especially if you are as yet unable to carry out any wordless magic."

"Uh...okay" responded a bewildered Harry "but what about Arithmancy? And I don't quite understand why wordless magic is so important. I mean it would be nice to do but as long as you know the spells that's what really matters isn't it?"

A visibly irritated Leola resplied distractedly "You aren't yet ready for Arithmancy, it will build on some Charms principles then I will introduce the basics and later on perhaps Rowena will take over." after a moments pause she continued "You mean to tell me that no one uses wordless magic at all in your time? Student's are allowed to learn more without having mastered what they have already been taught?" a curious and somewhat pitying tone in her voice.

Not knowing quite how to respond Harry answered "I suppose I've seen teacher's and some of the older students use wordless magic, maybe they start lessons in that later?"

His tentative reply seemed to take some of the edge off the woman but she was still noticeably unhappy.

The stately woman composed herself for a few moments. "I apologise Harry, I am…disappointed. I understood from your explanation that I would need to start from the beginning with your Runes education, but it appears the future education philosophies for wanded magic differ significantly from my own. As a result I will need to start your Charms education from the very beginning as well."

Unsure of quite what was wrong he asked hesitantly "Ma'am I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I know the spells, I've mastered spells from the first five years of schooling I don't think you need to start from the beginning."

The harsh glower he received shamed him slightly and he looked away, unable to meet his new mentor's eyes. "For obvious reasons Harry, I am unacquainted with the customs of your time, however, I am not accustomed to having my judgement questioned by an apprentice." In spite of the fire in her words, Leola's tone was more one of gentle reproach.

"I am sorry ma'am, I don't mean to question your judgement but I'm confused by what you mean about the difference in philosophy."

Taking a long look at the earnest expression on Harry's face she breathed out a sigh and her face took on a slightly resigned appearance as she gestured for him to sit back down on the tree stump as she settled herself.

"The problem Harry, comes from the dichotomy between magical knowledge and magical skill. Is it better to learn as many different spells as possible, or to be able to perform the ones you do know as efficiently as possible. The ultimate aim is of course to combine the two and to know as much as possible and to be able to perform it as effectively as it can be done. The difference in philosophies is a difference in the route we take to this ultimate goal, the path of knowledge, the path of skill or to straddle a fine line between the two.

"What you seem to be taught, and regardless of how I feel about it it's a valid interpretation, is that as long as you know the wand movement and the incantation and understand what a spell is supposed to do, to the extent that you can recall and carry out the spell at will, you have mastered it. This is the path to gaining a lot of knowledge very quickly but without careful and diligent study and practice will never lead to full understanding of magic. If you are correct in your assessment that students only begin learning to cast spells wordlessly late in their education then there is also a very good chance that they may never truly grow skilful in the shaping and manipulation of magic. While for the average magic user this may well be adequate, needing to know just as much as required for whatever work they may undertake or to run a household there are but few spells they need to have an innate understanding of.

"You on the other hand, are to compete with a Dark Lord. One whom I would imagine has had many years to hone his skills. You need every bit of help, advice and advantage you can get. In your case, mastering a spell is not about knowing the words and wand movements, it's about being able to perform it silently, to be able to shape magic without always resorting to the full complement of wand movements, to perform the required magic reflexively with barely a thought. Such skills are imperative to any fully qualified magic user in this day and age and I imagine it is not truly different in your time."

Silence overtook the pair as Harry contemplated her words. He knew she was right depressing as it was, it appeared his work here was cut out for him.


End file.
